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potentiality_26Trying to figure out how to reply to a rude comment is the worst.
I keep telling myself to take the high road and find a way to be gracious because I get how they might have thought they were being helpful, but the thing is that I've been getting more and more pissed off about people complaining about fanfiction that isn't perfect and I just want to let it out at someone, and since this person is such a big fan of unsolicited advice, maybe they deserve it.
I still haven't decided what to reply (I'm leaning toward biting my tongue and not saying anything despite my mood since "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all" is what I think they should adopt), but I have Opinions and I need to share them.
Honestly, I don't care if a fanfiction writer can't form basic sentences, there is never any excuse for making remarks about the quality of their work unless they have asked for constructive criticism, and even then comments should be limited to things that the commenter gives them the means to fix. Not everyone can get a beta. Not everyone has the skills to express the story that they have in their minds in perfect prose. And you know what? They shouldn't have to. Writing fanfiction is something that people do for their own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others for free. They don't have access to the resources of a published writer and readers shouldn't expect a published-quality product. Sure, plenty of fanfic is that good, but readers do not have some innate right to beautifully written fanfiction. If you don't like something, stop reading it. And whether you finish it or not, take a second to decide if someone who gets nothing in return for their work but the occasional nice comment really needs to know that you didn't think it was flawless.
Ah well. Now I have to decide what to actually say.
I keep telling myself to take the high road and find a way to be gracious because I get how they might have thought they were being helpful, but the thing is that I've been getting more and more pissed off about people complaining about fanfiction that isn't perfect and I just want to let it out at someone, and since this person is such a big fan of unsolicited advice, maybe they deserve it.
I still haven't decided what to reply (I'm leaning toward biting my tongue and not saying anything despite my mood since "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all" is what I think they should adopt), but I have Opinions and I need to share them.
Honestly, I don't care if a fanfiction writer can't form basic sentences, there is never any excuse for making remarks about the quality of their work unless they have asked for constructive criticism, and even then comments should be limited to things that the commenter gives them the means to fix. Not everyone can get a beta. Not everyone has the skills to express the story that they have in their minds in perfect prose. And you know what? They shouldn't have to. Writing fanfiction is something that people do for their own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others for free. They don't have access to the resources of a published writer and readers shouldn't expect a published-quality product. Sure, plenty of fanfic is that good, but readers do not have some innate right to beautifully written fanfiction. If you don't like something, stop reading it. And whether you finish it or not, take a second to decide if someone who gets nothing in return for their work but the occasional nice comment really needs to know that you didn't think it was flawless.
Ah well. Now I have to decide what to actually say.
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no subject
Date: 2016-02-21 11:01 pm (UTC)